Pages

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Fun Freetime: Mother-Daughter Book-Writing Team

Author
Elizabeth Gorcey has been creating her entire life - with paint, film
(starred in Footloose, Teen Wolf, Max Headroom), and words. Her new book
series is inspired
by her daughter, Olivia, who as a three-years-old began to
spontaneously deliver wisdom and advice to anyone who was listening.
Elizabeth dubbed her daughters musings as "Liv-Isms" and each book in
the series is based on these everyday insights. Sometimes kids are the
best teachers, and in encouraging her own daughter to embrace and use
her authentic voice, Elizabeth realized how much adults can, and must,
learn from the purity and honesty of a child's perspective.

Going to the Park tells
the story of Liv and Bowie recognizing that Mom and Dad need a break
from the stresses at work. Liv and Bowie convince their parents to put
down technology and head out for a fun day at the park. Olivia is the
go-to-girl for kids and parents looking for advice on how to navigate
our modern, technological world.

Elizabeth and her daughter worked side-by-side creating the book series and are having a blast doing it. I had a chance to interview them to learn more.

·What
was the inspiration behind the book? My daughter Olivia (AKA Liv).
When she was barely 3 years old I started to write down her words of
wisdom, which we now call Liv-isms.

·What
was it like working with your daughter to create the story? Working
with Olivia is exciting and fun. We call Olivia the Creative Director.
She gets last say on all phases of finalizing the books, including
words, design, images, etc. When I read a story to Liv and we work on
it, she is usually playing with a doll or something at the same time but
doesn't miss a beat when it comes to adjusting or correcting or telling
me 'a kid wouldn't say that', or 'that's too heavy for a kid.' I would
not call it ‘working’ with Liv, it is FUN!

·What
has been the most surprising thing you've learned from your
daughter? It's surprising that my daughter knows more about life than
me. Every day she teaches me something. One day I was very sad that my
mother was in the hospital and I was walking around the block with Liv
and our boxer dog, Bowie. Liv saw how upset and distracted I was and she
said to me "you are all sloshy, I know you are worried about grandma
but you are right here now with me and this is life right now! Look how
beautiful the sky is.” She made me look up and enjoy it, see the beauty
of it, appreciate the positive in life.